#Coronavirus #Vaccine versus #Therapeutic #Treatment
The coronavirus pandemic has impacted the entire world. Many are hoping for immediate access to a vaccine and/or therapeutic treatment without understanding the limits of what each may or may not provide. Consider the following, which is by no means exhaustive.
A vaccine provides prevention of infection against a particular viral pathogen; however, such prevention is typically against a particular STRAIN of that virus and not against the entire GENUS. The result is that targeted vaccines against particular strains have to be created annually (consider how the mixture of target strains changes in the influenza vaccine annually). It is a guessing game.
A vaccine typically provides long term prevention of a target infection; however, as new strains evolve, the treated person incorrectly believes they have been inoculated against all strains, so they are less likely to receive another related vaccine.
Vaccines are typically used for prevention not therapeutic treatment of a viral infection. This is because vaccines challenge a patient’s immune system to work harder and smarter, and a patient that already has the viral infection already has a fully challenged immune system.
Vaccines are biological products typically requiring complex manufacturing processes and burdensome storage and transport techniques. The result is that ready access to a vaccine is limited, and when ready access is available, then the supply is limited: cities and towns outside major metropolitan areas are typically underserved and undersupplied.
Therapeutic antiviral treatments are usually intended to treat an ongoing infection and are rarely used for prevention. This is because such treatments typically target viral replication (in)directly, so the virus must already be replicating for the therapeutic agent to have an effect.
Therapeutic treatments are typically not intended for prophylactic use. It has been established, in the field of antibiotics, that prophylactic use of an antibiotics leads to development of antibiotic resistant bacteria, which are then extremely difficult to treat. We expect the same with viruses.
A therapeutic treatment is typically based upon a small molecule having a single mechanism of action or upon a combination of two or three (rarely ever more than that) small molecules with complementary mechanisms of action. Depending upon the target mechanism of action, a small molecule may or may not have a broader antiviral spectrum than a vaccine.
Therapeutic treatments are usually small molecules that may or may not require complex manufacturing processes, but they usually do not require burdensome storage and transport techniques. The result is that there is usually ready access to therapeutic treatments across the U.S.
We need a comprehensive strategy employing BOTH vaccines and therapeutic treatments.